Airships, which in the context of this invention includes any airship, aerostat, dirigible, blimp, or other lighter-than-air vehicle, generally owe their buoyancy to inflatable bladders containing a material that is lighter than air—pressurized helium or hydrogen gas, for example. Some airships include a power source for independent travel, and others are connected to the ground through a tether, such as for the purposes of surveillance or marketing. Airships typically have an aerodynamic shape to weathervane to face into the wind and to minimize wind-generated drag forces.
Although some airships can remain aloft for a long time, airships typically need to return to the ground periodically—to avoid severe weather conditions, or for repair and scheduled maintenance of either the airship or payload equipment carried by the airship, such as radar and electro-optical sensors. Landing/docking an airship typically requires 10-15 people on the ground to stabilize the airship and prevent damage to its skin or payload until it is secured. This landing process can be risky to technical payloads and dangerous to ground personnel during times of gusty winds and turbulence. Recent U.S. military experience with tethered airships has shown a frequent occurrence of either damage to a critical sensor from a ground strike or loss of the entire airship due to a broken cable. At times over the past 10 years the loss of an airship occurred at an average rate of once per month, thus reducing the situational awareness of potential threats in the area.